Not funny at all

I'm just writing a little post here so that I can say I have not forgotten my little blog altogether.  The 2012 Summer Olympics have started in London but I do not know a single one of the athletes - not one. Not a single person in any of the sports. I don't even know how many Olympic sports there are. I know there is swimming and the high jump but that's about it. It's not funny but I really don't care. As long as I have my Daiquiris I am fine. Thanks.

Culture clash

“RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A Saudi court on Saturday convicted a female journalist for her involvement in a TV show, in which a Saudi man publicly talked about sex, and sentenced her to 60 lashes. Rozanna al-Yami is believed to be the first Saudi woman journalist to be given such a punishment. In the program, which aired in July on the Lebanese LBC satellite channel, Mazen Abdul-Jawad appears to describe an active sex life. The same court sentenced Abdul-Jawad earlier this month to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes. The case has scandalized this ultraconservative country where such public talk about sex is taboo and the sexes are strictly segregated. The government moved swiftly in the wake of the case, shutting down LBC's two offices in the kingdom and arresting Abdul-Jawad, who works for the national airline.” This case illustrates perfectly the differences between western culture and Middle Eastern values. Actually, the west used to hold these same conservative values back in the 1700s – now, however, this topless woman can legally walk down a New York City sidewalk without fear of arrest. Figure that one out.

Greed

From a recent news story: “BOSTON (Reuters) - Taking his private equity firm public paid off big for Blackstone Group LP's Stephen Schwarzman, who became the top-paid chief executive in the United States last year. But the surest route to big bucks was running an oil or natural gas company. Their CEOs represented seven of the 10 highest-paid U.S. CEOs in 2008, according to a report by independent research group The Corporate Library.” Schwarzman was paid $702 million last year. That’s close to two million dollars per day. Does this not seem just a bit odd? How much do sugar cane farmers in Cuba make? I bet you Schwarzman thinks he deserves it. He is beguiled. hehehe. Capitalism is ok, but one annoying problem with it is that NOBODY can ever tell you how much is too much.

Listen to me

The instability in the stock market is being caused by nothing but fear and the instability and unreliablity of investors themselves. Listen to me now - buy cheap stocks and hold on to them. Period. Don't sell, don't move, don't panic, don't run, don't cry, don't collect $200 - nothing. Stay still and everything will be fine. The stock market is not for babies to begin with. If you're going to be selling at the first hint of lower earnings, play Monopoly instead. You'll make more money there.